CARDINAL BEMBO AND HIS VILLA 



the accession of a Medici Pope in the person of 

 Clement VII. Bembo lost no time in going to kiss 

 the new Pope's feet, and in November 1524 he arrived 

 in Rome, bringing with him the MS. of his Prose 

 as an offering. Clement received him graciously and 

 promised him a Canonry of Padua, but not even the 

 company of Sadoleto and Ghiberti could make him 

 forget the Villa. " I am longing for home," he wrote 

 to Rodolfo Pio, "and as soon as this Jubilee is over, 

 I shall return far more willingly than I came here." 

 Again in a letter to Trifone he says, " I count the 

 days till I get back to you and my other friends, to 

 our sweet and tranquil life, and my delicious Villetta." 

 A sharp attack of fever, however, delayed his return, 

 and it was not till April that he finally left Rome. 

 From Pesaro he wrote to the Duchess of Urbino, 

 expressing his disappointment at missing her, and 

 telling her that his visit to Rome had nearly cost him 

 his life. " Now, however," he adds, " I am well 

 again, and on the way to my blessed Villetta, from 

 which Rome shall never tear me again." l 



A few days after his return he addressed the follow- 

 ing letter to his old colleague, Agostino Foglietta, 

 giving a graphic account of life at the Villa, and of 

 the contrast which its peaceful delights offered to the 

 turmoil of Rome : 



1 Lettere^ ii. 32, iii. 88, iv. 41. 



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